Well that's quite a lot to digest. Actually human rights violations are the order of the day UNTIL people become empowered enough to demand that the government change and enforce the law regarding such treatment. In every country in the world you will find cases of human rights violations and exploitation of people. Do you think that this is something new? Globalization cannot stand for a "commitment to humanity".
That's because Globalization is simply a force of commerce that dictates that industry shall go where labor is cheap and plentiful, be that from America to China or from California to Alabama. All Globalization stands for is the fact that the world gets smaller and more alike every day. This morning my father called me to tell me about the herbs, spices and meat he bought from the Chinese market in Oklahoma City while I was browsing a menu for Papa John's Pizza here in Xiamen, China.
I am not a big fan of Wal-Mart's practices even though I admire what Sam Walton built. There have however been studies that show that small businesses have actually done better in towns where Wal-Mart showed up. Two examples that stand out are a independent craft store and a paint store both in the same strip mall complex as a giant Wal-Mart. Both said that their customer count is way up due to the sheer volume of people Wal Mart attracts and due to the fact that they specialize in a lot of things that Wal-Mart doesn't carry.
In China the middle class is 300 million strong and that class IS demanding better governance and better conditions. 15 years ago this class of people barely existed. My wife's aunt just told us she used to earn 36rmb per month just 25 years ago. Now the average wage for a factory job is 1200rmb per month. How does that compare to the wage increases in the USA in that time period? As we already know every country has enough resources to make bombs and wage war - killing is cheap.
You call it imperialism and opportunistic capitalism and yet you fail to see that this is precisely what the world needs in order to stand up for itself. Competition begets progress pure and simple. When people make more money then they have more resources to become activists for change or the luxury to be apathetic. When they are barely making enough to live then they are focused on survival.
It's obvious that communism doesn't work on a large scale. Because even under the arms of "brotherhood" people still exploit other people whenever and wherever they can. That's human nature and only those who have both the leisure to explore morality and the means to do something about it are able to overcome the basic sense of survival of the fittest and subjugate their natural tendencies to dominate and exploit in order to peacefully coexist.
I won't argue that government interference hasn't harmed the free-market. The thing is that while a free market is generally the best thing for trade it's not always going to be truly free as long as government is tasked with regulating commerce. You can't have it be both ways, either you want government protection or you don't. And with that comes laws and regulations that benefit one group while harming another. That constant tension is a part of life in civilized society.
Better than than roaming bands of thugs.
Reccommended reading/listening on globablization, The Lexus and the Olive Tree by by Thomas L. Friedman
"Perhaps the most famous theory presented in this book is the Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention, which states: "No two countries that both had McDonald's had fought a war against each other since each got its McDonald's". (A variant of the democratic peace theory.)"
Wikipedia
